BT Home SmartPhone SII Wants To Breathe New Life Into The Landline

Second generation Touchschreen home phone comes equipped with Google Play for Android app downloads

BT wants to arrest any potential decline in landline use by offering the best features of a smartphone to home users, including Internet access and access to apps from the Google Play store, with the launch of the Home SmartPhone SII.

The handset is BT’s second Android-powered landline device and comes with several useful functions you’d normally associate with your home phone, including call blocking and remote access to voicemail messages.

The specs are largely the same as its predecessor but the key difference is that the new handset has access to the Google Play store.

Touchy

“We are extremely pleased to be adding Google Play to our Home SmartPhone SII which opens up access to the biggest app store available,” said Erik Raphael, director BT Wi-Fi and devices at BT.

Similar in build to the earlier Samsung Galaxy family of phones, the Home SmartPhone SII costs £169.99 and is available from the BT online store now.

It features a 3.5 inch touchscreen, runs Android Jelly Bean, and comes with 2GB expandable memory for your photos, video and music content.

In addition, the Home SmartPhone SII comes with BT’s Nuisance Call Blocking technology, which allows users to block up to 80 per cent of unwanted calls, including those from “international” numbers, “withheld” numbers, and unknown callers. They will also have the option to block incoming calls from up to 10 telephone numbers or put the phone into “Do Not Disturb” mode, which switches off the ringer.

Acting in much the same way as existing home phones, the Home SmartPhone SII has a range of up to 50m indoors and 300m outdoors and the capacity to store up to 1500 contacts.

“The home smartphone provides an excellent solution for getting everyone in the family online whenever they need access. The Home SmartPhone SII makes the home phone central to family life again, allowing you to look up numbers online and communicate with friends and family via email, Facebook or calls.”

Michael Moore joined TechWeek Europe in January 2014 as a trainee before graduating to Reporter later that year. He covers a wide range of topics, including but not limited to mobile devices, wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and financial technology.